Maelstrom in Space

By NO BYLINE

THE Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of the tumultuous central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth – and death – is taking place.

The image is one of the largest panoramas ever taken with Hubble’s cameras and has been released to celebrate the 17th anniversary of its launch.

The 50 light-year-wide view of the nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno.

The nebula contains at least a dozen brilliant stars that are roughly estimated to be at least 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun.

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